OCR Text

Lethbridge Herald, The (Newspaper) - July 31, 1973, Lethbridge, Alberta
4 THI LETHMIDGE HERALD Tuesday, July 31, 1973 EDITORIALS Could it happert here? For Americans this has been an era of almost unbelievable revelations as-to how their government has con- ducted its and their affairs, at home and abroad. At home the list of mind-boggling events includes Ells- berg and the Pentagon Papers, ITT manoeuvring hi San Diego and Chile, toe Milk Foundation ploy, the Vesco affair, grain shipment profiteering, the San Clemente and Key Biscayne property deals, the strange employ- ment of the FBI and CIA. And final- ly, overwhelming all the rest, incredi- ble Watergate. Disclosures of activities abroad have been no less devastating, es- pecially as to Vietnam. These include the Tonkin Gulf manipulation, My Lai, the handling of prisoners and allies CIA operations, private cam- paigns by field commanders, and lately the news that a clandestine war has been going on, unknown to even the regular military authorities. These and a dozen other events and actions are being investigated. Any one of them, occunng in isolation, would be sufficient to rock the na- tion, and because of America's pre- eminent world stature, to merit keen attention elsewhere. Indeed, since the U.S. embarked on this iod of what has been called "investi- gatory news throughout the western world has been domin- ated by its disclosures. The final outcome of this most harrowing exercise of the pecw pie's right to know is still a long way off. It is too early, as yet, to single out any one disclosure as being of greater long-range significance than the rest. But there is one revela- tion, a comparatively recent one, that could prove to be the one that makes the greatest lasting impact on Man's view of government, or even of dem- ocracy itself. Testifying before a Senate commit- tee, a former U.S. air force tions officer recently revealed that official military reports and records were systematically falsified, over a period of 14 months, to conceal the fact from military and civilian alike that war was being waged in Cambodia, that Cambodian towns and villages were being regularly bomb- ed, while Nixon, Kissinger, the Penta- gon and the state department were as regularly insisting that, to use Nixon's own words, "U.S. policy has been to scrupulously respect the neu- trality of the Cambodian people." Subsequent statements by Defence Secretary Schlesinger and by various Pentagon spokesmen have admitted that not only were bombing reports falsified, but since as long ago as 1965 all official reports of activities in Cambodia were routinely doctored, next-ol-kin given false information about where soldiers and airmen were killed or injured, and normal chan- nels of communication deliberately tangled or by-passed to deceive au those not on the "need-to-know" list, even within the military establish- ment itself, as to what was going on in Cambodia. In short, it is now a known fact thateven in the freest and most demo- cratic nation on earth, a small group of men which really means a single man strong enough in position or personality to dominate the others can decide to wage war against another country, and then wage that war, with no declaration, no legal au- thority, no announcement. Time may or may not add to that list and no retribution." is not just a piece of political or journalistic speculation. It hap- pened and is still happening. Since 1965, at the bidding of one man or at best a half dozen men, the U.S. military machine has been at war with Cambodia. Who knows about Laos? Who knows about. New world in making Suspicion of the U-S.S.R. survives despite outward indications of a new mood of accommodation between the East and the West. Old-line adher- ents of military preparedness, in par- ticular, are urging caution regarding any relaxing of defensive measures. Such things as the recent opinion of a British naval authority that the U.S.S.R. now has the most powerful navy in the world lend credence to their concern. Nevertheless, policy makers in Eu- rope and elsewhere are making de- cisions as though detente has reality and is not just rhetoric. In Switzer- land, for instance, the ministry of foreign affairs has been reorganiz- ed- A division based on East and West hi the ideologcal sense has been replaced by one founded on North and South. The new situation hi Europe is not solely due to the rapprochement of the United States and the Soviet Union; the enlargement of the Euro- pean Common Market has also erod- ed some barriers. But it is the chang- ed climate ideologically to which the Swiss have felt compelled to adjust It would be foolish to think that suddenly the walls are down and ad- herence to Communist theory has atrophied in the U.S.S.R. Observ- ers still see signs of repression be- hind the Iron Curtain. Yet a some- what different mood can also be de- tected. Paul Wohl, a Christian Scien- Monitor commentator, points out that the Soviet people are being told with candor of the need for Western capital and technology and Western motives are not being questioned. A new world appears to be hi the making. Like the Swiss, people hi the rest of the world may soon feel it is necessary to re-draw the map. Unfinished business News of me celebration of the 20th anniversary of Fidel Castro's success- ful revolution in Cuba is a reminder of one of the most glaring pieces of unfinished business in this era of detente. The United States has es- tablished relations of sorts with the People's Republic of China and sign- ed agreements with the Union of So- viet. Socialist Republics. What sense is there in continuing to give Cuba the diplomatc cold shoulder? Twenty years ought to be long enough to get over the afront Castro gave the Americans by ousting their protege Batista and appropriating properties held by U.S. interests. The shock of Mao Tse4ung overcoming Chiang Kai-shek in China and preci- pitously sending all Americans pack- ing was really much greater and yet recovery from that has apparent- ly taken place. Maybe normal relations would be resumed between Cuba and the U.S. by this time if President Nixon's plan to go down in history as the architect of a world at peace hadn't been side-tracked by having to give so much attention to the Watergate mess. The casserole The German word for honest is so a reasonable translation of ex-presiden- tial aide Eferlichmaa's name would be "honest man." In case anyone is interest- ed, the Germans spefl "irony" a bit dif- diferenUy than we do, but pronounce it the same. lafe costumes to get more complicated; even the simplest things are getting to be technical. No! too long ago, nude just meant naked, not having any clothes on. But now, it has to be much more Some- thing termed 'frontal nudity' is different from and evidently much better staff than weE, whatever other kinds there might be. Bacfcal, or sidal, maybe? a union official explains, win bdp to come the deplorable situation that "on some runs it has been just about impos- sible to get a bot meal" An enterprising ILS. trucker stole a truck, a large tractor trailer.ontfit, and then made a deal with a shipping firm that specializes: in long distance hauling of meat He had the huge trailer loaded with meat, and then vanished. The FBI is still looking for any trace of him, the track or its cargo. Talk about a double-steal Add to notes on romance of railroading to the Wall Street Journal, the latest type of diesel locomotive being ac- quired by the Canadian National Railway viH have a built-in refrigerator and a hot- plate in the cab. These JitUe amenities, Regardless of the talk of lung cancer, the suppression of advertising, the publish- ed warnings, the price of food or anything else, the use of tobacco continues to in- crease. Two of America's largest tobacco companies ha.c just reported their second quarter earnings, and boUi are all time highs. "He's above ail this, you Takeover series beginning? By Pful WMtelaw, Herald Washington commentator WASHINGTON Is Volks- wagen thinking of buying Gen- eral Motors? David Brinkley, the American television newscaster, was only joking the other night when he suggested that the giant Ger- man automotive firm might purchase controlling interest in the largest manufacturing com- pany in the United States. Yet, as is so often the case, humor reveals elements of truth. A foreign takeover of General Motors, of course, is so improb- able as to be ridiculous. But, as the U.S. dollar continues to lose value in relation to German marks and other hard cur- American stock market prices remain spectre of unprecedented for- eign investment in the United States is very real That'was Mr. Brinkley's point. Concern over foreign in- vestment is a familiar story in Canada. However, ft "is "an en- tirely new situation for Ameri- cans, at least the current gener- ation of political leaders. Since the Rrst World War, Ameri- ca has been a net exporter of investment capital, and until very recently foreign investment entered the Unted States at a mere trickle. The last year for which fig- ures are available, 1971, makes this point starkly. The total flow of direct investment abroad was billion, of which billion went to Can- ada. That same year, foreign direct investment in the United States amounted to a mere million, of which million originated in Canada. "The outflow of U.S. capital compared to foreign investment here was roughly 16 to one in notes an American offi- cial "We don't have 1972 figures yet, but I would guess that the ratio win have fallen to more like 13 to one. It's impassible to predict what will happen tins year, but an increase in foreign investment here, giving us a ra- tio of somewhere around nine to one wouldn't surprise me." "Foreign investment here is definitely on the upswing, but what happens in 1973 wUl de- pend on stock market prices and the strength of the the official noted. However, he added that the arrival of foreign capital is still so "relatively small" that it would take many years before the trend might constitute a threat to our national interests. "Certainly, I can't foresee the day in my lifetime when we would view foreign investment in the same manner as some Canadian economic nation-' said the official. Traditionally, the United States had had a policy of wel- coming foreign investment, with few restrictions. A change in policy would be so fundamental that one state department econ- omist says he couldn't foresee a change "within the next 100 years." Still, there are voices of dis- unheeded and oc- casionally ridiculed. Congress- man Joseph M. Gaydos, a Pennsylvania Democrat, has sponsored a bill that would limit foreign ownership of American companies operating within the United States to five per cent Estimating its chances of approval, another House member quipped: "We're as likely to overturn the abolition of slavery." Certainly, reaction was calm to the announcement last Tues- day by the Canadian Develop- ment Corp. that it wants to pur- chase control if Texasgulf Inc., the U.S. multinational corpora- tion with interests in mining, agriculture, chemicals, oils and gas. The CDC last week filed a tender offer with the Securities and Exchange Commission here to acquire 35 per cent of Texasgulf Accord- ing to papers filed by the CDC, tiie TexasguM Canadian oper- ations since 1967 have contrib- uted 68 per cent of the pany's operating income. Its metals division is based at Kidd Creek Mine, Timmins, Ont., and produces zinc, silver, copper, lead and cadmium. The CDC, which was set up in 1971 by the Canadian govern- ment to increase domestic con- trol and management of the pri- vate sector of the economy, al- ready owns about 2% per cent of the outstanding shares of Texasgulf. "Even though the Canadian Development Corp. is owned by the Canadian government, we are treating its tender to pur- chase Texasgulf shares like any other private offer to said an official of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reaction at the state depart- ment was also unruffled. "It's not like a nationalization or expropriation. It's an offer to noted a senior official well-versed in Canada-U.S. rela- tions. However, be added that he was waiting to see "whether this is an indication of a new Canadian policy." "Prime Minister Trudeau noted some time ago that a pol- icy of 'buying back' foreign-held corporations in Canada doesn't interest him. He would prefer that investment be made hi new ventures. Is tins move by (be CDC indicative of a new pol- the state department offi- cial said. Even if the CDC action does signal a new Canadian policy, the official noted that offers to buy shares in U.S.-owned corpo- rations would probably not be alarming as long as "they were purchase offers at fair market values." The CDC offer, which expires Aug. 10, would result in the transfer of 10 million shares of Texasgulf at The com- pany's stock closed last Tues- day at up a point. Anthony Hampson, president of CDC, has denied that the bid to control Texasgulf is the be- ginning of a series of takeovers. 'Tor the moment we've used a good portion of our available be said. "We're not a buy back organization or a er of last resort. This is a com- mercial venture on the part of our company." No time to look and marvel By WDHam Safin. New York Times commentator WASHINGTON years from now, bow will our great, great grandchildren re- member 1973? Iq a future age, when the names of Nixon and Brezhnev are dimly remembered, when Ervin and Mitchell and Dean are minor footnotes in schol- arly treatises, the name and the discovery that win fflum- inate toe year 1973 win be Lu- bos Koboutefc. Kohoutek is the name, and astronomy is his game; he is the Czech-bora asteroid man at the Hamburg Observatory in Germany, and he has discov- ered a comet that is beaded our way. Kohootek's comet is no ordin- ary, run-of-the heavens comet; it may well be the biggest, brightest, most spectacular as- tral display that living man has ever seen, starting this Christ- mas and lasting for two months. How will earthlings react? Some people will not even look out the window, figuring that if it's important it wiH be on the next evening's televi- sion news. Alert businessmen will see the commercial possibilities, such as the likely spurt in sates of Comet cleanser, with concomitant headaches for the House of Ajax. National aeronautics and space administration officials, seeing a chance for a renewal of interest in space and thus bigger budgets, may reach out to touch the comet, perhaps with a mariner rocket, or at least man the skyiab on Dec. 28 to get a newsworthy cor- onagraph. Religious leaders win find the appearance of Koboutek's comet of enormous signifi- cance, and win refer to it in sermons as the "Christinas to Konoutek's irri- tation. Tbe White House will is- sue a statement welcoming the comet, hoping it comes in peace for all mankind, and sug- gesting it be called "the comet of Kohoutek won't like that one bit better. The radical-chic set, who wffl catch tibe comet on their way borne in the wee hours, will take it as a symbol of the need for drastic change; the early risers of the bible belt will see it as a warning that we have let permissiveness go too far. Then, after a month or so, the comet's nightly show will cease to enthrall; people will get bored of profiles and interviews of celebrity Kohou- tek, telling over and over how he first spotted it coming our way; legislators will demand to know bow much NASA is spending on this latest probe; superpatriots will wonder why the comet could not have wait- ed a couple of years for the bicentennial; and lovers lying on their backs in the grass will give up staring at the streak in the sky and begin again looking at each other. By mid February, the comet will fade from view, having finished its orbit around the sun, and bead back out past Jupiter, past Pluto, to the play- ground or graveyard of comets, destined not to return for cen- turies. cAfler it has been gone for a white, it will be missed. After all, didn't the comet remind us of all the glory of the heavens, the insignificance of man's pc'fer and the nobility of man's mind to observe and learn from it? Then we will turn to John Banyan's "Pilgrim's Pro- written from prison al- most exactly 300 years ago, and read about the man "who could look no way but down- wards, with a muck-rake in his band. There stood also one over his head with a celestial crown in his band, and proffer- ed to give him that crown for his mack-rake; but the man did neither look up nor regard, but raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and the dust of UK floor." America's influence By Norman Consini, editor of the Saturday Review-World Few things are more inter- eating about the Watergate scandals than the reaction of world public opinion. In general, the Watergate revelations have puzzled and bewildered people abroad. They cannot understand the reach of the investigatory process in American society. They cannot comprehend why the president of the United States, one of the most power- ful men in the world, is power- less to keep his closest aides from being subjected to in- vestigation or interrogation by a grand jury or a senate com- mittee. They don't understand how members of the Federal Bur- eau of Investigation can seek evidence against the presi- dent's own lieutenants or against high officials within the president's own party, or even against the attorney general of the United States, to whom the head of the FBI is responsible. They were astounded when a federal judge in the Ellsberg case was openly and severely critical of the federal govern- ment of which he is a part. They are incredulous that the judge should reveal be was im- properly approached by a White House representative. In short, many of the world's people have difficulty in com- prehending how brandies of the federal government could be legally arrayed against one an- other. The whole rffair is pro- foundly unsettling. People are discovering openly what they may have known only subcon- ciously the extent to which their own feeling of security and confidence about own countries and about me world is affected by the stability of the United States. As a result, Watergate is pro- ducing uneasiness outside the United States bordering on con- sternation. People are reacting as though the ground bad sud- denly begun to tremble under their feet and there was no way of knowing whether an earth- quake was about to occur. A recent letter by a British citi- zen to the New York Times, for example, solemnly evokes the spectre of the collapse of West- ern civilization if the Water- gate scandals should lead t6 impeachment of the president. In the corridors of the U.N. building in New York, some diplomats who are poles apart ideologically from the president confess their hope that some- how the Watergate matter can be quickly resolved and that not just the United States but the rest of the world can get on with its regular business. Some commentators in the So- viet Union have even i that Watergate is a device to embarass vantage the president. In a sense, of course, the re- actions to Watergate abroad re- veal an imperfect knowledge of constitutional government in the United States, especially with respect to the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances. It is not unusual for citizens of one country to have inadequate knowledge of the institutions of another. What the foreign re- actions to Watergate basically reveal, however, is not just lack of understanding about the workings of constitutional government in the United States, but the fact that Amer- ica is still regarded as a vital balance wheel for the world. What happens in the United States still has a profound influ- ence on other peoples. Despite all the impressions in recent years to the contrary, America is very much in the conscious- ness cf other peoples. This fact in itself should provide some measure of encouragement to Americans about their future relationship to the rest of the world. In the of history, the Watergate scandals may be regarded as the darkest stain of a political process in our history but the ability of constitutional government to survive Watergate and to deal with the scandals may be re- garded as one of the greatest tributes to an open society ever recorded. The United States is demon- strating that it is greater than any of its administrations which is the way it was in- tended to be. The United states was designed to survive not only scandals but scoundrels. This fact is bound to become fully apparent. When ft does, the position of America in world public opinion will be stronger than ever. Letters are welcome and will be published providing! identification is included (name and are quired even when the letter is to appear over a pseu- they are sensible and not libelous; they are manageable length or can be shortened (normally, letters should not exceed 300 they are deci- pherable (it greatly helps if letters are typed, double spaced and with writers do not submit letters too frequently. CaSlomt to pan lorsoMT The Lethbridge Herald _ Jw 7U> S, 8, LeOftfidge, Afterta URBBIUDGE HERALD CO. LTD., md Pi Prirtttnd im-UM, by Bon. W. A. BUCHANAN CLCO w Moweits, H, ADAMS, THOMAS DON POUItO WILLIAM MAT tmtr_ WALirtt
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